Take Over Bid
by AKAJipster
Summary: SEQUEL to Easy Target, Six months on Harper is experiencing health problems that concern everyone, especially Beka who suggests a few days away from the andromeda to help him properly recover, only he fears a repeat of the last time they were alone NOW CO
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

It shouldn't be taking this long. Seamus Harper mentally chastised himself as he stopped his work and took a moment to gather his senses. This was a simple job, recalibrating systems was something he did every day and standard procedures but he was struggling. Harper took a deep breath; he hadn't been feeling great that day but this was nothing new. He'd been working non-stop on repairs since Dylan last got the ship shot at, just after the last conference the ship had hosted, and Harper really wanted to get things fixed before shore leave.

For weeks Harper had been crossing the days off before Beka would take him in the Maru and drop him off at the seventh tri-star surfing championships being held on some planet whose name he could barely remember, let alone pronounce, but he didn't care, all he wanted was to make sure Rommie was in tip top condition before he left so he'd truly be able to kick back and enjoy the surf.

"Harper."

Great, now Rommie was on his case, Harper considered and he stopped and prepared himself for a dressing down.

"What is it, babe?" he asked as casually as he could.

"Are you alright?"

Harper looked around the system's matrix, surprised by the question Andromeda had asked him. "Yeah?" he answered, allowing the confusion to show in his voice.

"I'm picking up some fluctuating patterns in your life signs," Andromeda spoke as she appeared next to Harper.

"What do you mean?" Harper asked, a little concerned now as he pushed away the streams of data he had been working on and focused fully on Andromeda.

"I think you should return," Andromeda advised. "I will ask Trance to meet you."

"I feel fine," Harper protested lightly.

"You have been working in my matrix now for over five hours without a break, and you have not slept in nearly twenty hours, the only food you have eaten is snack food," Rommie stated.

"Watching my every move?" Harper smirked.

"Always Harper, it's what I do," Rommie answered without emotion, but her face softened. "Please, Harper, return to your body and let Trance try and solve why I am picking up the readings that I am."

Without warning Harper suddenly grimaced, and then brought his hand to his head.

"Harper?" Rommie spoke with concern, but he didn't respond as his signal momentarily became disrupted. The ship's avatar could only watch as Harper fought what appeared to be an intense amount of pain. She moved closer, wishing she could comfort him but inside her matrix he was just bytes of information like herself.

"Rommie," Harper then managed, as his bodily representation shifted once again, before he virtually moved to lie down across some random information streams.

"Harper, you can't stay here," Rommie stated, crouching beside her engineer.

"I don't feel too good," Harper stressed between gritted teeth. "I was fine until you made me aware that I wasn't," he added tiredly.

"Harper, you have to return, Trance is with you now, please, disconnect," Rommie encouraged.

Instead of complying with her orders, Harper closed his eyes rapidly losing consciousness.

"Dylan," Rommie then spoke up. "We have a medical emergency."

* * *

Beka was shaking her head as she walked along the corridor, and with a deep breath she entered the living quarters of the ship's engineer, and her friend, Seamus Harper. Immediately she looked over to where his bed was situated, and finding the lights were low, she took care as she walked over to his side.

"Hey," Beka smiled, when she saw Harper shift and then roll over sleepily. "Sounds like I missed quite an adventure today."

"If you're here to lecture me, don't bother, just get in line behind Rommie, Trance and Dylan," Harper mumbled, his eyes barely open as he brought the covers up around himself.

"You mean Tyr hasn't had a pop at you? I'm surprised, Mr self-preservation is usually the first in line whenever you try and kill yourself," Beka softly spoke and then smiled warmly.

"I didn't try to kill myself," Harper returned.

"But you made a good attempt," Beka offered.

"I didn't realise I was developing a fever when I jacked in," Harper explained, his red rimmed eyes opening a little more now. "I just thought I was tired because I was trying to finish all essential repairs before I went on shore leave."

Beka noted the sadness in her friend's voice now. "Sorry you've had to cancel," she simply said.

"Bound to happen, I look forward to something too much I should expect shit to happen preventing it happening," Harper spoke with bitterness.

Beka reached out an arm and rested her hand on the top of Harper's head softly, and began to gently stroke his hair back from his clammy forehead. "Don't be so hard on yourself," Beka offered quietly. "You haven't been sick in a long while, it's just unfortunate," she added.

"Not since that time we were stranded on the Maru," Harper remembered, and a brief smile appeared.

"And that was accidental if I remember, you exposed yourself to a gas that made you blind and stupid," Beka teased, finding a smile of her own with the memory.

"Just blind, thank you very much," Harper returned, but found another brief smile. "And that was bad enough, actually can we not remember that on second thoughts, still gives me nightmares," he admitted lightly.

"Can't believe that was almost six months ago already," Beka idly realised. "We really were lucky on reflection."

"Lucky?" Harper shifted so he was lying on his back now.

"We were both alive and somewhat well after the event," Beka shrugged.

Harper frowned. "My back was sore for weeks."

"You should have let Trance take a look at it," Beka stated. "I could only ever do a sub-standard job in treating you, and I'm sure Rommie got suspicious about our frequent trips to the Maru."

"Let them talk," Harper grinned. "They didn't have to know about that guy and what he did to me."

"It could have been a lot worse," Beka stated seriously.

"But it wasn't, can we drop this?" Harper asked again, rolling onto his side once more.

Beka checked Harper's reactions, and was concerned by his reluctance to talk about the events that had happened on the Maru six months previously. Beka then saw how much her friend was suffering with the fever he had picked up, and decided to drop it.

"Get some rest, and no jacking in until Trance gives you a clean bill of health, I don't want to ever return back from a supply run again to discover you caused a medical emergency, ok?"

"You got it," Harper mumbled tiredly and his eyes were closed once more, as he brought the covers up close again, trying to settle down.

Beka watched as Harper slowly settled into a fevered sleep, and she sighed knowing that for a while there had been a great concern over Harper's welfare, enough for them to contact her on the Maru to let her know what had happened. It had taken them a good hour at least to safely remove Harper from the matrix connection, and even then they were not completely sure that he hadn't been harmed by his falling ill whilst jacked in.

Harper had been rendered unconscious before whilst jacked in, but falling ill was uncharted territory and Beka was just glad that he was ok, she wasn't ready to lose him and it was very much connected to what had happened six months previously. She got to her feet, and stared at the prone figure battling with the fever in his sleep, realising she had just admitted to something she had been denying since the events on the Maru six months before.

* * *

The room was dark and stale smelling. Boxes and cartons lay abandoned around the four walls, leaving only room for a table and the door way. Around the table five men were sitting, drinking some form of alcohol.

"Tell me some good news," the man that was sitting at the top of the table asked, his battle armour adding to his presence that intimidated the others gathered.

"We've finally been able to confirm that story, about that little freighter ship," an eager young kid spoke up. "It's called the Eureka Maru and it is a part of the Andromeda Ascendant's fleet."

"So they weren't lying about that, interesting," the man sneered, as he examined the blade of his knife. "What took you so long in finding that out?"

"They are part of that new commonwealth, it's hard to get information out of them," another of the men stated, his bulk almost taking up one side of the table.

"Her name is Beka Valentine, the runt is called Seamus Harper," The kid now continued. "Valentine is the CO, second in command to Dylan Hunt a 300 year old relic from the past, it's quite a story," the kid enthused.

"What about the runt, Harper?"

"He's the ships engineer, something of a genius and respected amongst the top scientists in the known worlds," the kid finished and there was silence for a moment.

"They tricked me, humiliated me, and they took back what I had taken from them, I want that Maru, and I want them both to pay, especially the runt," the man sneered. "But you know something? What I want most of all is the Andromeda, it's the least they can give me for the troubles they caused me."

"Tyrone, I'm not sure it's wise to get mixed up with this new commonwealth," the larger man spoke his concerns.

"We can't just take a high guard warship, boss," a smaller guy sitting next to the kid argued.

Tyrone rose to his full six foot plus height, and glared at his men in turn. "It's time we stepped up a league, and I know exactly how we're going to do it."

No man dared to argue now that Tyrone had made his thoughts known, and meekly they all agreed with brief nods of the head.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

The wash of colours hurt his senses, but he was relieved to feel the slight nausea as his consciousness pushed itself back, signalling that he was finished. With a grimace, Harper pulled the connector from his port and found that he was soaked from perspiration, and his muscles were aching. Then Harper spotted Beka looking directly at him from across the room.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Harper?"

"There was an emergency, I had to do something," Harper already knew the source of Beka's anger, he could barely move with his energy drained but he remained insistent. "No one else around here has a port, or can do the wonders I can with these hands," he gestured trying to make light of how he was feeling.

"Look at yourself, Seamus," Beka was using his first name, so Harper knew she was in no mood for jokes.

"I was only jacked in for ten minutes," He dismissed.

"Twenty-five," Beka corrected him. "What if you had fallen unconscious again?"

"Rommie was keeping an eye on me," Harper shakily got to his feet, and Beka reached out to steady him. "Look, I know I'm ill, ok? But seriously, I had to do something."

Beka took a deep breath, and found she was just relieved that Harper was out of the system and at least acknowledging that he wasn't feeling good. "This is madness, how are you supposed to get well again if you're the only engineer on board?"

"Dylan said new recruits will be on board soon," Harper reminded her, and he was now able to walk freely and unaided. "I feel better than I did, Beka, you don't have to worry."

"I do, and I will, this virus you have can only go if you completely rest," Beka returned, and then found that they were outside Harper's quarters. "Now go and get cleaned up, then sleep and don't be saving our butts anytime soon, ok?"

"Gotcha," Harper agreed with a grin, but stopped as he walked through his door. "You can always join me, scrub my back then tie me to my bunk, and make sure I never leave?" he offered suggestively.

"Seamus, you are sick, in more ways than one," Beka shook her head, and walked away.

* * *

"Boss, he never showed up!"

"What?" Tyrone spun his chair around and faced the kid. "Explain."

"I asked around, apparently he was forced to cancel his entry to the surf competition due to illness," the kid shrugged. "I hung around just in case it was a trick, or they'd somehow cottoned onto our plan, but he didn't show."

"I want surveillance stepped up, I want to know each and every departure and arrival from that damn ship, they can't stay on there forever," Tyrone spat, remembering his past altercation with the two people he now wanted to capture, and force into giving him what he wanted, and it riled his anger to boiling point.

"We'll do what we can, whilst avoiding detection," the kid backed away quickly, and left the command deck.

* * *

"Dylan."

"Go ahead, Andromeda," Dylan gestured, he was stood on command going through the basic routine maintenance, trying to do what he could to further help Harper to rest, and keep Beka off his back.

"I'm detecting what appears to be surveillance technology on the edges of my sensors," Andromeda spoke from the screen, showing her confusion.

"Do you recognise the signals as either Nietzshean or any of our growing list of enemies?" Dylan idly asked.

"None that I recognise," Andromeda admitted.

"Take readings and if they broach any further, or in anyway attempt to interfere with your systems, notify Harper," Dylan ordered. "Otherwise, put it on the list of jobs for Harper to look into when he's feeling better."

"Dylan!"

Dylan looked up with a frown as Beka walked onto Command and quickly towards him, already sensing that he was coming into contact with another battering from his first officer. "Beka?"

"He's working again!" Beka stated angrily. "I left him only an hour ago to get some needed rest, only to find since then you've already dragged him from his sick bed to do something else!"

"It's just an emergency repair," Dylan immediately spoke. "Just a five minute job, I promise."

"Harper doesn't even have to jack in," Rommie supported from her station close to Dylan.

"He needs complete rest; do you even get what that means? Have you even seen him lately?" Beka demanded.

"I understand that the Gogorstum virus is draining, and only gets better with complete rest but I promise I checked with Trance and Rommie first, and they both said Harper would be able to handle that small job, the virus is on the decline and Harper needs the distraction," Dylan defended his orders.

"It's a job that one of those damn bots could have handled just fine," Beka argued.

"But it needed a human touch," Dylan stated. "Beka, I want Harper back fit and well like anyone else around here, but fact remains that until the new crew arrive he's all we've got to keep this ship from failing at a critical time, and we can't afford to take those chances."

"At least don't leave him working alone to do these jobs," Beka conceded. "He is still suffering, and that virus is still in his system and we can't afford to take chances with his health either, I thought you'd have learnt that lesson by now," Beka stressed, backing down slightly. "I'm going to go and help him, and in future, don't keep your orders involving Harper to yourself, ok?"

Dylan just nodded his head in understanding, appreciating that Beka had a special friendship with the engineer that made this whole situation unbearable for her, more so than for the rest of the crew.

* * *

"Damn, stupid, move you bugger!" Harper's voice was heard to snap as Beka finally located her friend, sat on the floor in a small off the beaten track corridor on deck ten.

"Harper?" Beka's voice made the engineer jump slightly, as he turned to face her.

"Aw man, look I'm ok, ok?" Harper complained snappily, as he continued to try and physically move a component from an exposed wall panel.

"Need a hand?"

"No," Harper stressed with petulance, as he battled once more with the fittings. "Can you believe that a problem effecting all of the ships air filters is originating from this one piece of faulty and very stuck tubing?" he explained through gritted teeth.

"Let me have a go," Beka offered knowing she had more strength at that moment, as she moved beside Harper.

"No, its ok, nearly got it," Harper struggled, and Beka could only watch and see the amount of effort it was taking him, as perspiration fell down his face, it was clear that he still didn't have his strength back.

Harper suddenly fell back onto the deck with a cry of anguished pain, making Beka jump, and the piping he had been trying to remove fell with a clatter to the ground, as Harper rolled over clutching his hand.

"Harper?" Beka soon gathered her senses and stopped Harper rolling, managing to get him to lay still on his back, but his hand was clutching his other hand and there seemed to be a lot of blood suddenly. "What the hell?" she asked.

"Pipe broke off in my hand," Harper grimaced, talking with clenched teeth and short breaths, as he clutched his hand.

"Come on, sit up," Beka encouraged, and with some effort managed to get Harper to sit up against the wall of the corridor they were in. "Let me see," Beka requested and Harper hesitantly removed his vice like grip from around the injured hand. "Can you move your fingers?" she asked, seeing a three inch gash in the palm of Harper's hand.

Harper nodded his head, and to prove his claim he managed to move his fingers slightly but it caused him pain, and he rapidly held his hand close to his chest. Beka looked around and saw a semi clean cloth near to where Harper's tools were laid out. Without hesitation she ripped the cloth in two, and scrunching up one half she pressed it firmly against the open wound, trying to ignore the pain it caused Harper. Soon she was wrapping the other half around his hand, as a makeshift bandage.

"Keep pressure on it," Beka ordered, and then got Harper to his feet. "Let's get you to med deck."

"Beka, before we go, please just put that stupid new piping in the place of the old pipe?" Harper requested with pained breaths, and leant against the wall for support.

Beka seemed in two minds but remembered the only reason Harper had been working on that section was due to it being an emergency. She picked up the new tubing, and then kicked the offending fallen old tubing away, reaching into the panel to remove the rest of the pipe that had done the damage to Harper's hand.

"Like this?" Beka asked, once she had the tube in place.

"Yeah, you'll need to solder the ends," Harper managed, composing himself a little better now but he was clearly struggling, as his illness grew stronger in his weakening state.

Beka worked as quickly as she could to secure the new piping, remembering how Dylan had insisted that this repair needed Human hands, and she seethed that it had almost cost Harper the use of those hands.

"Done, can we go now?" Beka asked, and Harper simply nodded his head, and she guided him towards the med deck.

* * *

Tyrone paced the deck, as his men looked on from their stations. Clearly he was growing impatient and was not happy.

"The minute either of them leave that ship, the exact minute!" Tyrone blasted.

"Sir, they haven't left since we began surveillance," the kid spoke up.

"Then we should just assume it will be any day now," Tyrone sighed, and retook his seat. "Any longer and I will grow bored of this plan," he complained.

His men all exchanged glances that suggested that they were hoping that would happen.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

"Boss?" Harper called out as he stepped onto the Eureka Maru, and ventured into its familiar homely surroundings. "Beka?"

"Is the Maru stocked?"

Harper frowned on hearing Beka's distant question, and guessed that she was in the cockpit. "Yeah, since 'you know what' happened I've made sure the Maru is always stocked," he answered as he approached.

"Good, we're going on a trip," Beka called out.

"What, now?"

"Yeah, you're coming with me on that supply run Dylan wants me to go on," Beka appeared ahead of him, and they met in the serving area.

"But I'm still signed off sick," Harper offered. "I'm still recovering from that virus and I still have this stupid injured hand," he gestured dismissively.

"Exactly why you're coming with me," Beka confirmed. "For the entire trip I just want you in your bunk and sleeping, I'm use to doing these runs solo so I'll do everything else, you just rest without distraction."

"I don't know," Harper hesitated.

"Harper, you know you will never get any rest on the Andromeda," Beka frowned. "There will always be those little jobs that they prefer that you do, well I'm taking you out of the equation so they learn to make do, and so you can get better. This virus has been in your system for too long now."

"Beka, you're just asking for trouble by having me on this run, trust me," Harper partly smiled. "Remember the last time it was just the two of us?"

"That was unfortunate, but it will be different this time, we'll be back by this time tomorrow," Beka stated confidently, and moved along side Harper. "I just want you to get rid of this bug once and for all, ok?" she spoke with fondness as she put an arm around his shoulders.

"It is starting to wear me down," Harper admitted, giving her idea some thought. "Getting tired of feeling tired all the time," he stated, and then smiled.

"We leave in an hour," Beka instructed, moving away and back towards the front end of the ship.

"I'm ready to go now," Harper stated, and he moved towards the crew quarters. "If you want me, I'll be in my bunk waiting," he stated suggestively, before ducking out of sight.

Beka shook her head. "You're here to rest, Harper, and that includes your over active imagination!"

* * *

There was sudden activity, and Tyrone turned to see the eager young kid hurrying towards him, his face beaming.

"Sir!" the kid acknowledged, before continuing. "The Maru has finally left the ship, and our scans indicate that there are only two life signs on board, the same life signs as our scans previously showed."

"Meaning," Tyrone stepped forward. "Our two targets are within easy reach!"

"They are heading for the Trillian cluster, we assume to the drift to pick up supplies," the kid added.

"Plot a course," Tyrone generally ordered and his men snapped to attention. "Let my plan begin," he grinned manically.

* * *

Beka stopped at the door, with the hot steaming mug of coffee in her hand. Before her she observed the sleeping form of Seamus Harper, looking for once at peace and relaxed, with the blankets wrapped tightly around his body. Slowly, and quietly, Beka moved forward and crouched down to put the coffee on the side beside him should he want it, having decided against waking him.

She watched him for a few more moments, remaining crouched on the deck, her feelings inside mixed as to why she was doing this.

"You're not going to kiss me again are you?" Harper mumbled eyes still closed, and seemingly still asleep, causing Beka to jump and then stand up abruptly.

"You're awake?" Beka stammered.

"You put the smell of coffee within ten meters of me, of course I'll wake up," Harper finally blinked his eyes, and slowly woke up before reaching for the mug. "How long was I out?" he asked as he propped himself up on his elbow.

"Nearly six hours," Beka answered. "We're just an hour from the drift, you obviously needed the sleep."

"Yeah," Harper absently agreed, as he took some sips of the coffee.

"I wasn't going to kiss you," Beka then stated, taking a seat on the opposite bunk.

"What were you doing then?" Harper smirked. "Checking me out?"

"Checking you were ok," Beka answered bluntly.

"I'm fine," Harper took some more sips of the coffee. "Actually, do you have my meds, the headache is lingering again," he frowned.

Beka reached over to the bag they had brought on board and retrieved an injector that Trance had prepared. She checked it was correctly set up before moving to Harper's side and pressing it into his arm.

"Thanks," Harper offered, before returning to his coffee. "Feeling a lot better already, maybe you were right that I needed some time away from the Andromeda," he conceded.

"I can't believe you doubted me," Beka smiled.

Harper smirked, and returned the mug to the side. "I guess I still have lingering nightmares about the last time we did a supply run together, this is the first time since then that we've done this."

"That was just a one off bad experience, Harper," Beka shrugged. "We've done plenty of boring supply runs together."

"I know," Harper agreed. "Do you think about what happened much?"

"What part? It was a pretty full on experience," Beka sighed. "I admit I don't think I've ever been as concerned about you as I was when I had to leave you behind on that ship. For the first time ever I actually believed I might never see you again. Even when you were on the World Ship, it didn't feel like it felt when that psycho made me leave you behind."

"You should know by now that you can't get rid of me that easily," Harper spoke brightly. "Even though that wasn't pleasant, the one thing that sticks in my mind is you, and how you acted."

"I wasn't well," Beka was quick to remind him.

"I know," Harper nodded his head slowly, but clearly thinking. "Just totally flipped me, made me freak out and I never thought you'd be able to do that to me."

They were both avoiding each others stares now, as they found inanimate objects around the bunks suddenly interesting. Finally Beka looked up and saw that Harper wasn't going to say anymore.

"I'm glad it didn't ruin what we have, that I can still call you a friend," Beka admitted.

"Take more than that to scare me off," Harper smiled now. "Though you came close," he added with a smirk.

"Those were a strange few days," Beka remembered now. "I never want food poisoning again, and I never want to be on this ship again when the heating fails," she paused. "And if I do have the misfortune of experiencing both, I only hope you're with me again to see me through it like the first time."

Harper almost looked embarrassed at the compliment. "Next time, I won't be so slow in figuring out the problem," he stated, still clearly unhappy with himself for missing what he saw as an obvious solution.

"And if I promise not to kiss you again, you'll promise not to kiss me in retaliation again, right?" Beka teased, then checked and observed Harper's reactions closely.

Harper just smiled, giving nothing away as to how he now felt about those brief and strange encounters from before. "I won't, unless you want me too," he answered suggestively, and in his usual cocky manner.

"You'd run a mile if I said I wanted you too," Beka stated as fact, and then felt her stomach jump as she waited for his response.

Harper instead settled back down on the bunk and brought the covers back over himself, closing his eyes. "Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't," Harper then mumbled and Beka was left to just stare at her friend as he settled into sleep, not understanding exactly what he was telling her.

* * *

"Andromeda, what's the latest on those readings you were taking?" Dylan casually asked, as he continued to scan the systems.

"They have ceased," Andromeda reported, as she appeared on the large view screens.

"Did you find a pattern, or a source?" he asked.

"No, they were pretty random interferences, and could even have been coincidental to my system detecting them," Andromeda answered.

"So no threat then?" Dylan checked, as he looked at Andromeda for confirmation.

"Standard scavenger detection equipment."

Dylan turned to face Tyr, who was stood by the weapons console. "Tyr?" he encouraged his weapon's officer to continue.

"Designed to fool any ship into thinking the scans are non-threatening, when in fact they are the opposite," Tyr stated. "These readings are similar to the ones I would expect to see when a ship not wishing to be detected is scanning another."

"Tyr, I hardly think that Rommie with all her technology would be fooled by such a device, especially if being used by scavengers, what could they possibly want from us?" Dylan was amused. "No scavenger, with Andromeda in her current status, would even attempt to take us."

"Not us, no," Tyr agreed. "But these scans stopped nearly twelve hours ago."

"The Eureka Maru left twelve hours ago," Rommie then spoke up, doing the calculations.

Dylan was suddenly alert to the very possible danger. "Andromeda, get me Beka, we need to warn them, just in case."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

Harper hurried through the walkways of the Maru, stumbling every other step as he tried to find his balance, whilst still waking up and wrapped in a blanket.

"Alright, alright! Why is leaving a message suddenly not acceptable? No, wake the Harper he's got nothing better to do," he complained with anger on hearing the incessant beeping, before reaching the cockpit and jumping into the seat, activating the communications console. "Maru here, what the hell do you want?"

"Mister Harper, nice to see you too, you're looking dishevelled," Dylan could only answer as his face appeared on the small monitor. "Where's Beka?"

"Getting supplies like you ordered," Harper answered, and rubbed his eyes. "And I was asleep, like ordered," he added bitterly.

"Explains your state of undress at least," Dylan teased now, as Harper looked down at his crumpled t-shirt and shorts being the only thing he was wearing. "Harper, we believe there may be a chance you are being followed, or tracked by scavengers, we need you and Beka to remain alert."

"What?" Harper sat up immediately, his attention fully on Dylan now as he saw flashbacks in his mind to their previous run. "Who, why?" he stammered.

"We're not sure, we only suspect," Dylan quickly assured him. "Just stay on your guard. We've picked up suspicious readings that we are now investigating, we're moving to rendezvous with you sooner than planned, just in case."

"Cool, thanks," Harper took some comfort from that. "I'll try to raise Beka, get her back on board so we can get moving."

"Good, stay in contact, Dylan out," the captain signed off and Harper considered the situation for a moment, his gut churning and unable to forget what had happened before. He needed to find Beka, and they both needed to return to the safety of the Andromeda.

* * *

Beka frowned as she walked the bustling lanes of the drift; she was becoming as paranoid as Harper she considered as she looked over her shoulder one last time. Whilst picking up supplies she had begun to feel the sensation that she was being watched, and earlier in a brief moment of horror, out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn that she had seen that psycho guy, Tyrone, but that was impossible. This drift was light years away from where that had all happened, and she could fathom no reason why Tyrone would be in this sector. It was her mind playing tricks, being alone on the Maru with Harper again was messing with her thoughts, and when she had looked again she hadn't seen the scavenger who had tried to take her ship, and hurt her friend, no one was there.

As she continued to walk, she remembered. The images of the damage Tyrone had done to Harper flashed back into her mind and she felt angered that such a thing had happened, and she had played a part in it. His back had been red raw and bloodied, the pain she couldn't even imagine, but Harper had somehow thought he had a place in the universe where it was expected that he feel that pain, and she had been alarmed by this confession. Still she promised herself that one day she would seek revenge for Harper, and for her own piece of mind. She never wanted to see Harper so weak and low about himself again, especially not by the hand of someone as pathetic as Tyrone.

She looked over her shoulder again, but all the faces were strangers, and Beka continued to walk, knowing she needed a few more things before she could return to check on Harper.

* * *

Harper wrapped his jacket around himself, feeling the chill of the air on the drift and then remembering he needed to take his next dose of meds. It was too late now, at least for the moment with his meds back on the Maru, as he scanned the open area for Beka. Pushing thoughts of feeling sick to the back of his mind, Harper was well enough to keep looking for the Maru's feisty captain, knowing she could be absolutely anywhere and probably was, seeing as she wasn't answering her com unit.

Each step was becoming a task, and on retrieving a tissue, Harper blew his nose and decided that maybe he still was not one hundred percent, and rushing around a drift looking for someone that he had no idea where to start looking, was not helping him. Slowly he turned, deciding he should head back to the warmth and comfort of the Maru and await Beka's return, but on turning he immediately found a hand around his neck and his body being pushed into a side street and up against a wall.

Unable to speak and barely able to breath, Harper gasped in the hope that his senses would kick back in soon. Confusion and uncertainty clouded his thoughts as he tried to focus on the three men that now stood in front of him, and then he recognised the man in the centre.

"No," Harper's breath was suddenly short.

"We meet again."

"Leave me alone, let go of me!" Harper stressed with fear, trying to struggle but felt the grip around his neck tighten.

"You have something I want," Tyrone stated. "And you will hand it over to me." Harper was already shaking his head. "Don't play the hero with me again, Seamus Harper, you remember what I did to you last time, how long did it take to heal?"

Harper remained silent, and just stared at the man that he'd seen in his nightmares, and absently felt the pain return to the skin on his back as he remembered.

"Use the data port decoder on him," Tyrone smiled towards the young kid stood watching, and Harper could only watch as the youngster retrieved a cylindrical device from a bag, that obviously fitted over data ports.

"No," Harper struggled, but soon found his airway cut off for doing so.

"Play nicely," Tyrone encouraged, as the kid showed that he knew what he was doing by preparing the device for use.

Harper was allowed to slowly breathe again with the grip being slightly loosened, but then Harper felt a device being put to his neck, and screamed out when he felt the rough jolt of electricity as the machine connected to the inner workings of his port.

"What are you doing?" Harper strained, as he tried to make sense of flood of information that suddenly became available to him.

"We stole this device a few scavenges ago from a Nietzschean freighter," Tyrone calmly explained, gesturing to the device. "They use it on their engineers, also known as slaves, to instantly train them into the workings of each ship they are assigned to, but it has other uses we've discovered," he then smiled. "I believe it's a crude but effective device, and I'm fortunate to have a computer genius of my own now who has ably adapted it for my own gains," he smiled again, this time at the kid, as the device was removed from Harper's data port.

Harper was almost limp in the hold that Tyrone had around his neck, already drained from illness, the device had attacked all of his remaining senses.

"Get up," Tyrone ordered and briskly set Harper up to a standing position. "Now you will sneak me and the kid here onto your ship, and you will tell the ship to only detect yours and Valentines presence."

Harper was struggling to remain awake, as he took in the orders. "And if I don't?" Harper asked defiantly.

"You don't have a choice," Tyrone calmly informed the human, and three weapons were instantly trained on him.

Harper slowly brought his head up, as he felt new signals being sent straight into his brain, and repeating them over and over.

"The only way to make it stop, is to do as your port says, your port is now under my control," Tyrone grinned with satisfaction.

"No, that's not possible!" Harper shook his head, but the thoughts sounded as if they were his own. "It's not real," he stressed now.

"You keep telling yourself that, and you'll drive yourself crazy," Tyrone almost seemed excited by that prospect. "Save yourself the trip, and do as your mind instructs."

"This isn't real, this can't happen," Harper stressed but could see no other option than to comply as the weapons were still pointing at him, and so he began to walk back towards the space port. His mind was a flurry of confusion, and the more he heard his thoughts relay the orders, the more he began to believe them. With uncertainty, Harper tried to remain focus but his sickness was wearing him down, he needed to rest feeling his shirt was soaked with perspiration, and it was as if he was becoming sick all over again.

Feeling somewhat disconnected from reality, Harper was vaguely aware of Tyrone sending the third man away with instructions. Numbly, Harper kept walking, finding it easier to ignore the inner voice as he began to believe it was just a trick, he knew deep down that no one could control him via his port but he was also in a situation where he could only play along as he felt the nuzzle of one of the guns in his back as they walked close behind him.

Finally they reached the Maru, and with haste Harper found himself gesturing to Tyrone and the kid to come on board. "Go up to the hold, lift the floor plates, and there's enough room for you both to hide in the bays under them," Harper stressed with his breaths becoming more laboured. "I'll sort out the computer to ignore your life signs," he added and quickly the two men headed towards the ladder leading them up.

Harper waited for a moment, catching his breath and hearing them both above settling down. There was no way he was going to give Tyrone the Maru, especially not after what happened before; it just wasn't going to happen. With some effort Harper began to climb the ladder, reaching the hold area he saw the two men had found the parallel bays that Beka often used back in the day for smuggling. Harper composed his breathing, still hearing the commands in his head; he knew what he had to do. With a single motion Harper used all his body weight to shift the large carton of sparky cola over the two hatches, securing the two men in the bays and rendering it so they were unable to escape.

"Don't ever try and use me to get to Beka's ship again," Harper panted, not even sure if either man knew they had been captured, but he didn't care.

Harper staggered back down the ladder, and soon found his bunk again. Exhausted, and feeling worse than before, Harper soon collapsed into a feverish sleep.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

thankies for the comments!

* * *

Part 5

Even before she had returned to the Maru, Beka had sensed something was wrong. Unable to know for sure, Beka instinctively headed to the crew quarters to check on her friend and discovered that her gut had been right, as she quickly moved to Harper's side.

"Harper, wake up," Beka stressed, seeing him perspiring heavily, and in the midst of a troubled sleep. His breathing was laboured and she knew the fever had come back, and with full force. "Harper!"

As Harper slowly began to stir, Beka noticed the meds she had left for Harper to take when he woke up, and quickly grabbed them. Administering them without a second thought knowing that he was overdue a dose, Beka watched as Harper snapped his eyes open, and immediately gasped for breath.

"Beka," Harper panicked.

"It's ok, I'm here," Beka insisted firmly, and held her friend until he became more aware of his surroundings. "What happened? Why has the fever returned? You seemed to be getting better," she asked not expecting an answer.

Harper blinked his eyes, and began to remember his encounter with Tyrone but for a moment he was unsure if it was a dream, or in fact real.

"How many people are on board?" Harper asked.

"What?" Beka returned confused. "It's just us."

"Check," Harper insisted.

"Ok," Beka agreed unsure and moved to a panel just outside the crew quarters. "Yeah, just the two of us." She watched as Harper seemed to relax slightly. "Who did you think was on board?"

"Tyrone," Harper stated with relief.

Beka froze at the mention of the name, remembering her own paranoia when she had been on the drift; they were both remembering the past it seemed. "It was just a nightmare," Beka assured him, as she returned to his side.

"Wait," Harper was alert again. "What if I programmed the Maru to ignore his life signs? He might still be on board!"

"Harper, stop this, it's the fever speaking," Beka assured him calmly.

"No, I have to check," Harper stressed with short breaths. "Dylan, he sent a message, warning us, go check, it should still be on the system," Harper instructed, as he shakily got to his feet.

"Ok, I'll go check, but first I'll prep to leave so we can get you back to the Andromeda where Trance can help you, and you just do what you have to do until we return, just make sure it involves sleep sooner rather than later," Beka instructed, sensing that Harper needed to put his own mind at rest.

It seemed her plan to help Harper by bringing him on the supply run had backfired, and it was all due to that last bad experience and she wondered if she should have expected this reaction from Harper or if she had truly underestimated the affect it had had on him. The mention of Tyrone also troubled her but at the same time had convinced her that Harper was just working with his paranoid senses; she too had found the past playing on her mind, and with Harper the fever had heightened those thoughts.

Harper however was now preoccupied with needing to check the hold, having taken in only some of what Beka had told him. His mind was a flurry of confusion and noise, and his body was once more racked with fever.

"Harper," Beka's voice came through his thoughts once more. "The idea of this trip was to relieve you of stress, what the hell happened that caused you to work yourself up like this and let the fever take hold again?" she asked.

"I don't know," Harper answered absently, and moved unsteadily towards the exit, leaving a confused and concerned Beka behind him.

* * *

Harper slowly stepped up the ladder and cautiously entered the hold. He needed to see that there was no one else on board but deep down he feared there was. Hearing the engines power up and then feeling the shift as the Maru prepared to leave the drift, Harper walked over to the bays under the deck and to his relief he found them empty. Taking a deep breath, Harper mentally allowed himself to relax and that's when he suddenly found a hand around his throat, before being pushed face first into the bulkhead. 

With the breath knocked from him, Harper remained silently stunned by the turn of events, and then felt someone leaning in close behind him that they only had to whisper so he could hear them and feel their breath on his skin.

"Nice try, Seamus Harper, but a few crates of soda can not keep me and my boy down for long."

"Tyrone," Harper finally managed to find his voice.

"Who were you expecting?" Tyrone teased, before roughly bringing Harper around to face him, and showing the weapon that was trained on him. "The kid here," Tyrone gestured to the younger man. "Did what you must have forgotten to do, he hid our signals from the ships sensors, I told you he was good," Tyrone smiled. "That was very unfortunate for you, to forget an instruction like that."

"Proves you can't control me," Harper stated defiantly but soon realised that was a bad move, as Tyrone appeared to agree.

"Kid," Tyrone then barked, and the kid was immediately by his side. "Secure Valentine in the cockpit area."

Harper could only watch, with the gun still aimed at him, as the kid used a small monitor that was hacked into the Maru's systems from the hold. It was crude but effective set up, and the kid seemed to know what he was doing.

"I need a signal mask," the kid then spoke towards Tyrone.

"Will he do?" Tyrone gestured to Harper.

"He has a port, sure," the kid shrugged casually and he took a cable from his pocket that he ably plugged into his make shift set up, throwing the other end to Tyrone. "The link is set up to protect the Maru's systems from him taking over," the kid added.

"No way, you're not just sticking that in me," Harper spoke knowing his connection to the Maru would more than serve the kids purpose, and tried to back away but Tyrone made him more aware of the gun still aimed at him. Tyrone then moved quickly, but Harper pushed him away and managed to kick the gun from Tyrone's hold. Without hesitation Harper headed towards the ladder and quickly slid down to the main section of the ship.

"Beka!" Harper yelled, as he headed towards the command section. He ran despite his weakening state, and ignored his heavy breathing but on approach he soon realised it was already too late. The blast door had already been activated, and Beka was trapped in the cockpit. "Beka!" Harper hammered on the door and heard the distant muffled voice of Beka on the other side, calling his name but he couldn't make out anything else.

"I'll get you out, I promise!" Harper stressed tiredly, feeling his exhaustion now but he knew he couldn't let it win. Harper was then aware of not being alone, as he turned and saw Tyrone stood in the gangway.

"Shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Tyrone advised quietly, with his six foot plus frame dominating the surroundings, as he slowly approached. "You're needed in engineering runt."

Harper couldn't do much in his sickened state, as the Tyrone grabbed the back of his neck roughly and hauled him forwards, towards the walkway that ran down the middle of the ship, towards engineering.

* * *

"Harper!" Beka screamed. "What the hell did you do to my ship!" she demanded, but she could barely make out his words, other than his muffled promise to get her out. 

With frustration, Beka returned to her pilot's chair and continue to observe the Maru's flight path from the drift. Her thoughts reminded her of Harper's prediction that this trip couldn't possibly go smoothly, and then she sighed, knowing her friend was still fighting an impossible virus. Sadness now consumed her; she had read nearly all the reports on the Gogorstum virus. It was an alien virus that meant Harper stood little chance in avoiding it, once exposed, and she knew one of the Persied delegates that had come on board as a guest of Dylan Hunt had been suffering with it.

It was a tricky virus particularly for the humanoid body, as opposed to other life forms, in that it was hard to beat down with simple drugs. With humans the only effective cure from the illness was to completely rest, any kind of activity only served to feed the virus, making it stronger, even when it appeared to be in remission and the patient was getting better. Then even after finally being beaten, the virus still stayed in the patients system for anything up to five years, and was known to flair up at the first signs of stress and the cycle of complete rest would begin again until it died down and eventually it would weaken and leave the system.

Beka shook her head, it just wasn't in Harper's nature to stop and even when dosed up like he had been with drugs, his poor immune system did not help him and she feared just how long Harper might suffer with this condition. His situation certainly was not cut out to recover one hundred percent from this virus, and with the rate they found themselves in stressful situations, she imaged Harper would be getting sick nearly every week as the virus would over indulge on his stress levels.

Looking over once more to the locked blast door, effectively trapping her in the cockpit, Beka knew that she shouldn't have left Harper alone. He had obviously been delirious and now he was running amok probably unsure exactly what he was doing, and his panic and stress would be sky high. Clearly locking her in the cockpit had been a mistake that was something she was sure of by Harper's presence at the door. He had recognised his error and she only hoped he was aware enough to fix it, she didn't fancy spending all day in such a confined space, especially when food was the other side.

Beka then noticed the communications console, and the one saved message reminded her of what Harper had said about a message from Dylan, so she hit play, and settled down to listen.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

Harper was shoved one final time, so hard that he stumbled onto the deck of the walkway in engineering. Putting his hands out, Harper broke his fall but remained on the floor recovering his composure. He then noticed the kid was accessing the Maru's systems once more with his make shift kit hacked into the system.

"What do you want?" Harper then asked. "If you want the Maru then why did you lock Beka in command?" he asked, between breaths.

"We don't want the Maru," Tyrone answered. "We have much bigger plans now."

Harper considered his words for a moment before realising. "The Andromeda?" he questioned with disbelief and by Tyrone's smile, matched only by the kid's smile, Harper knew he was right. "You have got to be freaking kidding."

"We don't want you for your opinions, runt," Tyrone stressed.

"How the hell do you propose getting control of the Andromeda?" Harper had to ask with confusion. "There's a guy the size of a Greek god and an uber sized Nietzschean on board, not to mention the hottest most kick ass android I have ever had the good fortune to build," Harper explained. "Actually, I can't wait to see them kick your ass, so go right ahead," he added with a grin.

"It'll be your ass they kick first, Seamus Harper," Tyrone predicted, but showed slight surprise to Harper's amusement to his words.

"Ah I get it, you two will somehow make it look like I took over the Maru and somehow decided for no real reason whatsoever to take control of the Andromeda, just like that?" Harper mocked, finding strength in his confidence that the plan was stupid.

Tyrone soon recovered his confident composure. "I don't intend to give you all the glory, runt, don't flatter yourself," he explained and then turned to the kid. "Are they here yet?"

"Within range, they will be boarding in five minutes," the kid returned.

"What, who?" Harper asked.

"My crew, at least more of my crew, a lot more," Tyrone explained with a smile.

Harper took a sharp intake of breath, not knowing what to think as suddenly he felt his illness taking hold again.

* * *

Beka replayed the message again and then stopped it midway through. She sat back in her chair and sighed.

"I guess that explains why Harper got so worked up, damn you Dylan Hunt, why did you work on his fears like that?" she stressed to herself, knowing the virus must have reacted like it was breakfast, lunch and dinner rolled into one of stress to feed on.

She reached out and hit a button, calling on ship wide. "Harper, you done fixing my ship yet?" Beka waited for a response but none arrived. "Harper?" still there was silence and then the ship gently rocked. "What the hell?" she asked herself as she checked the readings but there were no ships in the vicinity and still only Harper's and her own life readings on board. "Harper what the hell have you done to my ship, you freak, sick or not this has gone beyond my tolerance levels!" she seethed with frustration, as she felt the ship rock again, as if another ship was docking alongside but all the ship's readings were telling her otherwise.

With the blast door in place, securing her from the rest of the ship, Beka could not hear anything from beyond but her gut was in overload. The ship readings however were telling her things that her natural instincts did not believe, but she had no other means of finding out what was going on beyond those doors and Harper wasn't responding to her hails.

"Harper, what is going on?" Beka quietly asked, as fear started to creep into her consciousness.

* * *

Harper backed up, still sat on the floor of the walkway in engineering but now he was surrounded by many of Tyrone's men, at least fourteen in this area alone. They hadn't touched him, or secured him but Harper could barely move; his illness had taken over feeding off his fear and stress of the situation.

Tyrone soon ordered the majority of the men away from engineering, and Harper could only observe as the kid continued to work at the console.

"It's almost too perfect, boss," the kid enthused, once they were only a couple of the men hanging around.

"It's all going to plan. Do we have an ETA for the Andromeda?" Tyrone asked.

"Picked it up on long range scanners, they exited slipstream a few minutes ago and should be here within the hour," the kid smiled.

Tyrone then turned to Harper. "Is he programmed?" Tyrone asked the kid, whilst continuing to stare at Harper.

"I might need to do a few adjustments, to be sure, and that illness he seems to have is going to help us a lot," the kid answered happily. "He won't put up much of a fight to what we have planned."

"It doesn't look like he'll be resisting our attempts, does it?" Tyrone casually asked.

They now looked at Harper, almost slumped on the floor and caked in perspiration from the illness.

"However, I think he might still put up an unnecessary fight, sir, and that wouldn't be right," the kid stated with a confident grin, crossing his arms, and it was clear to see he was lying.

"I thought so too," Tyrone played along. "He was so much fun the first time around, and real professional, I've not had as good a subject as him to torture for a long while."

"I missed that," the kid stated.

"Even more reason to repeat proceedings, and we certainly have some time to kill, so to speak," Tyrone enthused, and without any resistance he pulled Harper to his feet, and turned him around so he was pressed forwards against the barrier of the walkway.

Harper tried to shift the feeling of nausea away with the sudden movement and rested his weight against the metal bar of the walkway, his hands gripped the bar firmly, as his head began to clear but he still felt weak. Trapped now in Tyrone's hold, he felt helpless, unable to even shrug the larger man off and Harper tried instead to will his virus to give him a break. Even if he was well, Harper now considered, there were nearly thirty men and one nasty Tyrone on board the Maru. He didn't stand a chance of fighting them all off, he'd barely manage one and that would probably just be the kid. As thoughts of putting that kid in his place began to make Harper brighten, the sudden tug on his shirt sent him hurtling back to his situation, as Tyrone roughly move his shirt up to reveal his back.

"Admire my past work," Tyrone proudly bragged gesturing to the fading marks of the previous beating, and it gained appreciative jeers from the onlookers, as Harper's anger began to replace his feelings of fear and weakness. Last time he had talked his way out of more beatings, but this time he barely had the energy to keep his eyes open. He felt flushed, his head spun with illness and he knew what was coming.

Seconds later Harper screamed in agony, gripping the bar even tighter at the sudden eruption of pain across his exposed back. Tyrone had brought down a piece of flexible cord without warning, the closest thing he could find to hand to a whip. Harper now gripped the safety rail, trying hard to stay focused but his inner demons and feeling of helplessness fought to overcome him. Another sharp snap of the cord stung his back, and Harper collapsed to the deck, unable to keep holding onto the rail.

He felt hands roughly pull him back up to a sitting position, his shirt pulled up higher till it was almost choking him around his neck. Unknown hands gripped him hard holding him in position, as the crowd of men were cheering Tyrone on for more before another lashing crashed down, the pain was almost unbearable as Harper cried out once more.

"Stop," Harper begged with his head hanging down, his whole upper body racked with pain and being supported only by unknown hands, as he was ready to plead anything to stop the pain.

He was met simply by another sharp swing from the cord that felt as though it was setting his back on fire now. Resigned to the continued beating, Harper closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to escape into his mind.

* * *

Beka suddenly smiled as the communications panel came to life. She quickly sat forward in the pilots chair and activated the comm.

"This is the Eureka Maru, am I glad to see you!" Beka enthused.

"Beka, what's going on?" Dylan's voice came back.

"I'm not sure, I think Harper's had a serious relapse; he isn't thinking straight and has done some strange stuff back there," Beka admitted, unsure as to whether to be concerned or not. "I'm locked in the cockpit, I think he's confused or something."

"He's not the only one, Beka, we're reading 35 life signs on board, including your own," Dylan returned, and Beka could now see his concern.

"What?" Beka checked her own readings. "I'm still only reading two."

"You have intruders," Dylan confirmed.

"But," Beka tried to understand. "Someone has messed with the Maru's sensors, and they've done a good job and Dylan, there's only one person I know who could do a job this well."

"Let's not jump to conclusions. I'm guessing Harper isn't with you in the cockpit?" Dylan returned over the comm.

"No," Beka confirmed.

"Which means he's one man among 33 intruders," Dylan pointed out and Beka suddenly looked up.

"He's not well, Dylan," Beka stressed. "That damn virus has come back strong in the past few hours."

A new voice joined the discussion. "Beka, did you get any signs that something might be wrong? Did he give any signals as to why his virus has grown strong again?" Trance's voice now spoke up.

"He was very confused when I last saw him, he hadn't taken his meds and the virus had already consumed him again," Beka remembered. "More so than before, I assumed Dylan's message activated his paranoia," she added. "He was convinced we weren't alone."

"What did he say?" Dylan was quick to ask.

"He said that Tyrone was on board," Beka spoke with fear now.

"Tyrone?" Dylan was unsure.

"Remember our last supply trip that went wrong? I said a scavenger tried to take the Maru by force?" Beka prompted. "That was Tyrone."

"I don't understand, why has he returned?" Dylan asked.

Beka took a deep breath, and then faced Dylan as he looked back from the screen. "There were parts of that particular situation that neither Harper nor myself included in our reports," Beka spoke solemnly. "Dylan, if that is Tyrone and his goons out there, we have to help Harper!" she stressed, remembering what Tyrone had done before.

"Give me one good reason," Dylan requested, needing to understand the severity of the situation.

"Harper tricked Tyrone in a way that I'm sure he never forgot," Beka sighed heavily, seeing Dylan's unwavering expression. "I think Tyrone took offence?" she shrugged.

"Why did this get omitted from your reports?" Dylan demanded.

Beka took a deep breath, knowing Dylan still didn't know the full story and she knew she had to tell him now, so they could help Harper. "Tyrone tricked me initially," Beka frowned. "As a result he had Harper as his prisoner for nearly a day, Dylan, and he beat him pretty badly, tortured him," Beka tried to keep her emotions in check. "Harper was badly affected by it both physically and mentally," she explained softly. "He didn't want you to know, he didn't want anyone to know what had happened to him."

There was silence for a moment before Beka heard Dylan issuing orders, and she numbly sat back, her mind whirling with fear about her friends safety, knowing he was so near, yet so far away from her being able to help, again.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

Harper was forced to kneel in an upright position now, a hand rested on his shoulder to ensure he didn't collapse back down to the deck, and it was the only thing keeping him from doing so. Taking controlled breaths, ignoring the pain Harper was shaking slightly from the illness as he quietly observed each of Tyrone's men preparing their weapons and waiting for the signal. Tyrone had at least stopped beating his back, but it still felt as though it was on fire.

Harper tested the binds that now secured his wrists together behind his back, wishing he wasn't so helpless, and sick with it. Beside him Tyrone and the annoying kid worked at the console, they were talking in hushed whispers before Tyrone snapped his attention back to Harper.

"So, you kept our little previous meeting secret from your boss?" Tyrone spoke with amusement. "You didn't want your big and powerful captain to know you'd been beaten and humiliated by me? Your lady friend said you were mentally affected, interesting," Tyrone spoke as he stared at Harper, mocking the human.

Harper had nothing to say, and simply stared at Tyrone with contempt, as the larger man waited for a reaction but got none. Inside Harper hated Tyrone for listening in on Beka, he had no right and there was no way he'd let Tyrone come between them, he wouldn't let him.

"He knows now, your little Valentine lady just spilled the beans, she's worried I might hurt you again, opps, too late," Tyrone teased, enjoying his tormenting of Harper, but Harper remained vigilant to the teasing, trusting Beka and in no way feeling betrayed as Tyrone would like.

"Boss," The kid spoke up. "We're ready."

"Patch him through, take control away from the lady up front," Tyrone grinned. "Seamus Harper, it's time you spoke to your captain."

"Who is this?" Dylan's voice was then heard and Harper was roughly pushed up to a standing position, and then jostled in front of the monitor. "Harper?"

"Dylan," Harper returned flatly, feeling the perspiring running down his face.

"What's going on?"

"Not sure," Harper admitted, and then grimaced as Tyrone place a hand on his sore back. "I think these lunatics surrounding me want your ship," he shrugged, and then gasped as Tyrone hit his back.

"Are you ok?" Dylan checked, and the concern was evident in his voice leaving Harper to only imagine what a mess he must look.

"No," Harper was going to be honest, he felt drained and disorientated, it was only the pain keeping him conscious. "I don't know what they've done, but they've done something, don't let them near the Andromeda!"

Harper felt himself being yanked away from the console and the communication was cut. Tyrone pressed Harper's back painfully against the hand rail of the walkway in engineering. "You will request to dock, and then you'll access Andromeda's mainframe from in here and do as I say."

"No," Harper shook his head, and then grimaced as Tyrone pushed him harder against the rail.

"You have no choice," Tyrone pressed a knife now into Harper's neck. "You really don't," he grinned.

Harper was once again pushed in front of the console and moments later Dylan's face re-appeared on the screen.

"Harper," Dylan spoke calmly.

"They want to board, I mean we want to dock," Harper corrected himself.

"That is ok, permission granted," Dylan rapidly agreed.

"They want you to give us access to Andromeda's mainframe, in here," Harper stressed, and he hated every word he spoke, he felt so weak it hurt even more than his back.

"We can give you that," Dylan agreed, and Harper drew some strength from Dylan's support.

"It's a trap," Harper stated, despite the knife he felt to his back from Tyrone.

"I know," Dylan agreed to everyone's surprise. "But I have faith in you, and Beka, and all my crew, and we're ready. Dylan out."

Harper smiled, this was the reason he became a part of Dylan's crew, he remembered and then felt the knife in his back again and tensed. "Order your lady friend to dock."

Harper took some deep breaths, the hold Tyrone had on him was aggravating the wounds on his back. "Ship wide," Harper spoke and heard the beep. "Beka, we have clearance to dock on the Andromeda, proceed," Harper ordered, and his voice was unusually tense.

"Harper? Harper are you ok?" Beka frantically asked.

"No time, Beka," Harper returned flatly, without emotion.

"Ok, I understand," Beka came back. "Proceeding with docking."

Tyrone grabbed Harper's shirt and pushed him away from the console, he stumbled before falling to the deck painfully.

"You don't have a chance in hell, Tyrone! You, and your men, you're no match for the Andromeda!" Harper yelled resolutely.

Tyrone stopped and turned. "But you are," he simply said, before continuing to walk away, leaving Harper concerned and afraid of what his plan was.

* * *

"Dylan, come in!" Beka now frantically yelled but got no response. She continued to carefully steer the Maru towards the docking bay as Harper instructed, and her fear grew for her friend.

Inside she was mess of emotions, she had heard Harper's lifeless voice and she could almost hear pain in his tone. His voice was also affected by illness, and Beka knew that was a new development since she had last seen him, which didn't bode well for Harper's current state. She pulled herself together and continued to observe as the Maru came into the hanger bay.

"Beka?"

"Rommie?" Beka immediately spoke with surprise. "What's going on?"

"Dylan instructed me to infiltrate the Maru's systems," Rommie informed her via voice only. "Tyrone, through Harper has ordered that the Maru be allowed to dock, and then access be given via the Maru to my mainframe."

"What is he up to?"

"I believe he wants to take over me, this ship," Rommie answered without concern.

"Does Tyrone know you're here on the Maru?" Beka asked.

"No, I do not believe Tyrone does and I am keeping a low key, someone who is good with computers is working on the engineering console at the moment," Rommie indicated.

"Harper?"

"No, I have observed that it appears that his hands are tied, he is unable to work," Rommie noted.

"Is he ok?" Beka quickly asked.

"He is not well," Rommie simply answered.

Beka showed her frustration, as the Maru finally docked. "Tell me, Rommie, is Harper all right?"

"No," Rommie answered. "His movements are shaky and unfocused, and he appears to be in pain, his life signs are not encouraging."

Beka unclipped the harness, and reached for her gun. "Open the blast door, Rommie."

"Beka, there are over thirty men out there, all armed," Rommie warned her.

Beka took some deep breaths. "I can't just hide in here, Rommie, don't make me."

"I won't give you permission to kill yourself," Rommie's voice returned. "In your absence, we picked up the first batch of our new crew and they are now surrounding the ship, Dylan, Tyr and my avatar self are outside, Beka, we will fix this and rescue Harper."

With a hard sigh, Beka relaxed and replaced her gun into its holster. "So what do I do, sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the show?"

"No, I will open the blast door," Rommie informed her. "But you will not make your presence known unless absolutely necessary."

"What's that suppose to mean, I can now hide and watch?" Beka asked. "You told me there are over thirty men out there, what good am I against those odds?"

"Harper needs someone watching his back," Rommie answered.

Beka straightened and instantly understood. "I'll watch his back, I always do," she stated and the blast door opened. "But you better watch mine."

"You are clear in this part of the ship, the person operating the console has not detected my presence, and is not aware that I can control the Maru," Rommie spoke before Beka left. "Activate your comm unit, we'll keep in touch," Rommie ordered and Beka swiftly took the comm from her pocket, and switched the frequency.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

thanks for the reviews!

* * *

Part 8

The kid stepped back from the console, his make shift unit in his hand and a great big smile on his face as he checked the Maru's readings.

"We're docked," the kid announced.

"Great work!" Tyrone commended.

"Boss, there's a whole fleet of people out there, I thought you said this ship only had a crew of six?" one of Tyrone's men checked.

"What?" Tyrone hurried towards the console and discovered that his man was right.

"This makes no sense," the kid stressed. "All records stated that this ship was under manned, it's a well known fact.

Tyrone turned on hearing Harper offer a brief laugh, and instantly he grabbed the engineer by the throat, lifting him practically from the deck where he had dumped him. "You warned them!"

Harper caught his breath before speaking. "No, but I could have told you that we've been expecting a new crew for weeks now," Harper almost choked, as he spoke. "You're timing is a little off," he croaked, and felt himself being pushed back down to the deck.

"Doesn't change anything," Tyrone insisted, as he looked around and assessed the situation. "Do we have access to the Andromeda mainframe?"

The kid checked and then nodded his head. "Just as the runt asked," the kid replied swiftly.

"Let's do this," Tyrone decided, and gestured to the man stood closest to Harper. "Bring him over here."

Harper immediately attempted to struggle as he was led towards Tyrone, but his fever quickly weakened him, and a coughing fit followed. Tyrone grabbed his hair, and Harper found himself looking up at the mad man, as he knelt on the ground.

"Now to plug you in."

"You're letting me access the main frame?" Harper checked; his throat dry and sore after the coughing fit.

Tyrone simply laughed. "Yes, I am that stupid," Tyrone mocked, and then tugged at Harper's hair when Harper's expression showed that he agreed. "We've reprogrammed your port, remember?"

Harper narrowed his eyes. "I thought that was to try and control me?"

"Now who's the stupid one?" Tyrone smiled. "We reprogrammed your port to control the Andromeda." Looking confused Harper saw the kid plugging in one end of the jack to the make shift unit. Tyrone continued. "You are about to become the biggest threat to Andromeda's systems, you, Seamus Harper, are now nothing more than a virus."

"You've loaded my port up with virus code," Harper partially whispered with the realisation. He'd heard nothing but noise in his head for the past day, but put it down to their seemingly failed attempt to try and control him.

"Over fifty thousand different variations," Tyrone was having too much fun now, as he saw Harper's face fall.

Harper began to shake his head. "No, no way, you're not jacking me in, not like this," Harper started to panic and weakly struggled in the hold still on him.

"Your own projection is already infected," the kid took over. "The minute you jack in, your conscious will be affected by the code, you'll have no means of stopping what we're about to do, and in one hour, we'll have full control of the Andromeda."

"No!" Harper stressed, trying to back away from the cable as Tyrone took hold of it. "Dylan, Beka, anyone if you can hear me, you can't let this happen, I have a lot of junk in my port, you have to stop this!" Harper screamed in desperation. "Stop this, if you can hear me, do something but whatever you do just stop this!"

"Put the jack down, Tyrone," Beka calmly spoke, and everyone looked up to see her at the top of the ladder that came down into engineering, her gun was aimed at Tyrone.

"Beka!" Harper gasped, and twisted as much as he could to see her.

Tyrone simply laughed. "You really think I'm going to put this jack down when I have at least ten men alone aiming their weapons at your lover here?"

Beka remained focused, and her gun trained on Tyrone, as Harper tried to look around to see Beka. "Not Tyrone, Beka, aim at me!"

"What?" Beka questioned with surprise.

"Aim at me, shoot me, Beka you have to, I have enough junk in my head to render Andromeda useless, we can't take that chance," Harper stressed, but he was clearly afraid and his words lacked conviction, he wasn't thinking straight Beka concluded, and he looked in bad shape enough without a gun shot wound as well.

"I'm not shooting you, Harper," Beka returned calmly.

"And that is why I chose him," Tyrone declared. "None of you are going to kill this virus, and pretty soon both these ships will be mine."

"Beka please," Harper pleaded, his words sounding desperate.

Beka hesitated, hearing Tyrone gloating was nearly enough but she couldn't pull the trigger, she could never do it.

"Get her down and secured," Tyrone eventually ordered and with all guns now trained on Beka, the blond captain had no choice but to surrender. As she was led to Harper's side, she could already tell by his body language that he felt the last chance to stop this had passed.

"It'll be ok, Harper," Beka whispered once they were side by side.

"Not this time," Harpers voice had a hollow sound to it. "Tyrone's right, I'm nothing but a virus once that jack goes in, and there's only one thing you can do to stop a virus," he frowned. "Kill it."

Tyrone then tugged Harper's head back, and in one swift movement he forced the jack into Harper's port and the engineer screamed before collapsing unconscious, and jacked it.

* * *

"Dylan," Rommie suddenly spoke from her position a few meters from the captain, surrounding the Maru. "Something is happening, I need to disconnect from the main frame."

"What's going on?" Dylan asked.

"Virus," Rommie simply said before all power seemed to cease inside her, and she fell to the deck.

"Rommie!" Dylan was quickly to her side, her eyes barely open.

"Trying," Rommie managed. "To disconnect," she paused. "Harper, its Harper?" Rommie gave Dylan a look of confusion before powering down.

"Harper?" Dylan questioned, and then looked up as Andromeda appeared in holographic form, but her projection was breaking up. "Rommie what's going on?"

"I am under attack."

"From what?"

"Harper," Rommie answered her captain, and then disappeared.

"Would somebody care to tell me what the hell is going on!" Dylan demanded and then he heard Tyrone's voice over the comm.

"This, Captain Dylan Hunt, is me taking over your ship," he announced.

"Over my dead body, and don't say that can be arranged, I've heard it all before," Dylan stressed with determination, and then glanced over to Tyr. "Tyr! We need to get onto the Maru!"

"Captain," Rommie's voice spoke up on audio only. "I need to kill this threat. The virus is corrupting my files, in less than an hour I will be completely rewritten."

"Then do it!" Dylan snapped.

"I can't."

"Why the hell not? You're a warship Rommie, and you shouldn't need encouragement to destroy a threat!" Dylan barked, his patience wearing thin.

"Harper is the threat, and he doesn't want to die," Rommie returned, and Dylan suddenly felt as though he had been punched in the gut. Tyr was now stood beside him, and his expression seemed as unsure as his own.

"The threat is Tyrone," Tyr spoke evenly.

"Agreed, let's go," Dylan ordered, and they moved across the docking bay towards the Maru.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9

The information trapped him, and he couldn't move. Seamus Harper was powerless to stop what was happening and forced to watch as his own projection, and the bytes it had brought with it, slowly rewrote Andromeda's core programming. Even as his hands seemingly moved to destroy Andromeda's functionality, Harper was denying what he was seeing as another trick or a nightmare he hadn't woken up from yet.

"Harper."

"Rommie!" Harper gasped in part horror, part relief at seeing a familiar face. "Stop me, please, stop me," he pleaded, showing his distress.

"I can't."

"Yeah, you can," Harper insisted frantically, his desperation showing through. "I'm not me, this isn't me, and I can't fight this on my own, Rom Doll, please help me out here."

"Harper I," Rommie began.

"You can't think like that, Rommie," Harper pre-empted. "You're a warship first, friend second, you can't forget that order of things."

"I'll be killing you."

"You don't know that, you'll be killing the virus, not me."

"You are the virus, Harper!" Rommie stressed, clearly at odds.

"It's more frightening seeing you like this, than anything I'm doing, I mean this projection of me is doing to you," Harper admitted, and for a moment all the fear had left his voice and his words began to sink in.

Rommie just stared at him, and saw the damage his presence in her mainframe was doing to him. "One of the last times you were in here, I thought I had hurt you."

"What?" Harper questioned, momentarily confused and then he remembered how he had fallen ill inside her mainframe a few days before. "But you didn't, you didn't hurt me, I was fine."

"You were sick."

"I'm still sick, Rommie, more so now," Harper encouraged, and then his expression changed to one of hope. "That's it!" Harper suddenly exclaimed. "I need to do that again, let the illness render me unconscious both outside and inside the system, just like before."

"That's dangerous, I can't ask you to do that," Rommie stated.

"Your other option is to kill me, Rom Doll," Harper reminded her. "Look at what I'm doing to you; I'm nearly a third of the way through already, sometimes it sucks being a genius," he said with a seriousness she rarely saw in her engineer. "Neither of us want to die, right?"

"Correct," Rommie answered.

"I need to return to my body, I need to encourage my illness," Harper decided.

"I can push you back, but only what I recognise as your consciousness, I can not move the virus," Rommie offered, and Harper rapidly nodded his head.

"That could be enough because I can't move at all right now, but I hate to leave you with this," he gestured to the virus code that was taking her over. "Let's hope that the stress of the return alone will be enough to set things in motion," Harper considered thinking on his feet. "Before it was the stress of the onset of the illness that knocked me out, this time it's going to have to be the illness taking complete hold that does the deed."

Rommie let her head drop. "The Gogorstum virus is not a virus to be encouraged or messed with, Harper, and with your weakened immune system," she began, showing some concern.

"Rommie, you know I don't want to die but more than that, I don't want to be the reason you do," Harper stated with fear and sincerity. "I'll do anything for you, babe, haven't I always said that?"

"Harper."

"No time for this," Harper distracted himself by preparing to return. "Push me out of this place, Rom Doll and I'll see you on the flip side," he grinned, and with a last glance between each other, Rommie used all of her strength to push what remained of Harper's consciousness, amongst the virus, from her system and back into his body.

* * *

Beka held Harper tight as suddenly his body tensed and he omitted a loud scream, she waited for his senses to return.

"Harper?"

Harper was having trouble breathing, the stress of being in the mainframe had allowed the virus to spread to his lungs, and he was struggling. "Beka," he gasped.

"What is he doing back?" the kid asked with annoyance, glancing up from his work. "Get back in that mainframe and do your job, runt!"

"Kid, back off!" Beka snapped, and the kid took a few steps back. "Seamus, talk to me, what's going on?"

"I'm killing Rommie, how's your day going?" Harper stressed, with a pained expression, his face caked in perspiration as he weakly lay in her arms.

"Not the time for jokes," Beka chastised, but her concern was clear. "You're sickness is taking over."

"That's good, that's great," Harper enthused madly, looking delirious. "I need to get up, I can't lie around here all day," he decided, knowing he had to make his body weaker for the virus to speed up its natural process.

"Seamus, stop this," Beka pleaded.

"No, you don't understand," Harper stressed still attempting to move in Beka's vice like grip. "It's the only way, trust me," he could see she couldn't take his words seriously. He was in her arms, and she was clutching to him like she was never going to let go. Suddenly Harper realised that Beka was afraid, and afraid because of him; she feared losing him and he forgot the plan for a moment to look her in the eye seeing something he rarely saw in her stare.

"You told me not to worry, right?" Harper spoke as calmly as his illness allowed, and then without care Harper reached up and brushed her lips with his own, and everything seemed to stop for that brief second before he pulled away. "Now trust me," he stated before suddenly gasping, and tensing up as his body struggled with the virus. Beka was caught in a daze, his tenderness and then sudden further relapse hitting her all at once and by the time she had recovered her senses, Harper was once again unconscious in her arms.

"No," Beka held him tighter. "Seamus, come back!" she demanded, tears now in her eyes.

* * *

"You kissed her."

"Rommie, if I survive this I'll explain, but right now, I'm busy with trying to let the illness render me unconscious in here, ok?" Harper spoke, his voice lacking energy as his projection lay down, weakening before her.

"Your readings are fluctuating to dangerous levels," Rommie explained.

"Now, Rommie, kill the virus now," Harper instructed as his eyelids grew heavier. "I can't hold on," he whispered before slowly his head rolled and his projection flickered.

In that instant Rommie rose up with all the power she could muster and with a simple gesture, she used her hand to squeeze the threat out of her system, destroying the virus with ease and stopping its progress.

* * *

Tyrone grabbed the kid by the neck and pushed him against the bulkhead. The kid in turn just looked at the larger man with wide eyes.

"You told me the virus would over power him!"

"It should have," the kid blabbed. "It did but somehow he came back, he was talking to his lady friend, but I don't know how that was possible, it shouldn't have been possible! Somehow he was stronger, but look at him!" the kid gestured clearly confused.

"Not good enough!" Tyrone threw the kid to the deck.

"Boss," another voice spoke up.

"What?"

"The takeover, it's kind of, boss, I think it has stopped?" he stated and his voice carried fear, not knowing how Tyrone would react.

"Stopped?" Tyrone checked with disbelief.

"No," the kid pushed himself up and to his make shift panel to check the readings for himself. "I don't believe it, the Andromeda has killed the virus."

Beka looked up, her heart almost missing a beat on hearing the words and she looked down at the unconscious form of Harper in her arms, but couldn't bring herself to check if he still had a pulse.

"The ship has killed her engineer, one of her own crew?" Tyrone couldn't believe the news either.

There was a sudden flurry of noise as Tyrone looked up to see Captain Dylan Hunt, flanked by his own men approach.

"Andromeda is a warship, did you forget that part?" Dylan stated confidently with his force lance aimed, as he stood alongside Tyr at the entrance to engineering.

"I was not going to let a bunch of brainless scavengers take me over," Rommie then joined in and moved forward between Dylan and Tyr with her force lance raised, temporarily disconnected from her mainframe and powered up enough to assist Dylan and Tyr as they had boarded the Maru.

"This is way beyond anything I know," the kid then admitted, overwhelmed by the way he'd been defeated.

"Just so you don't worry, your twenty missing men are currently being escorted to the brig, you, that kid and the other losers in here will be joining them shortly," Dylan stepped forward with a smile. "I would advise you to drop your weapons, no one is a quicker shot that Andromeda, but you're welcome to try," Dylan then suggested and it was enough of a threat for all of Tyrone's men to drop their weapons.

"This was a stupid plan, I told you right off, Tyrone!" the larger man of Tyrone's main crew conceded once his weapon had been dropped, and he offered his surrender.

"Now you, Tyrone," Dylan gestured to the last man standing.

Tyrone still kept his weapon raised, as all his men around him surrendered without a fight. "This isn't over, I still have your crew hostage right here," he gestured to Beka, clutching Harper sat on the deck. "Well at least one of them."

"It's over Tyrone," Dylan reiterated.

Rommie then took matters into her own hands as she strode up to Tyrone, and her presence alone was enough that she could easily take his weapon from him without a fight. "You learn quick, Tyrone," Rommie smiled sweetly. "Never piss off a warship you have already pissed off."

Rommie continued moving towards Harper, and she quickly administered meds straight into his arm, before she put a comforting arm on Beka to try and snap her out of the shocked daze she was in.

"Let him go, Beka," Rommie spoke softly.

"I can't," Beka shook her head, her emotions threatening.

"No, I mean let him go so I can lay him down and check his vitals," Rommie smiled warmly, and saw the sudden joy in Beka's expression that was missed by Tyrone as he looked back at Dylan.

"You really killed Seamus Harper?" Tyrone then checked with disbelief. "Then I truly underestimated you, and that was my undoing."

"No one has been killed, and it wasn't me you underestimated," Dylan confidently spoke on seeing Rommie briefly nod her head towards him, before glancing at Beka and seeing her smile, and he knew Harper was still alive.

Both the kid and Tyrone looked back at Harper. "But," they both said in unison and then stopped when they saw Harper flinch, and then begin to slowly stir.

"Take them to the brig," Dylan ordered towards Tyr who wasted no time in following Dylan's orders, taking pleasure in man handling the kid and Tyrone off the ship.

Dylan moved quickly to where Rommie and Beka were checking on Harper. "How is he?"

"Weak, but I think his plan worked, his own virus protected him," Rommie stated. "We should move him to the med deck, so Trance can properly assess him."

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

The mug shook in his grip, and it took all his concentration to lower it back down so it rested on his thigh. Taking some deep breaths, Seamus Harper had never felt weaker, but it had only been roughly ten hours since the events on the Maru and he knew it would take longer to completely recover.

"Hey," Beka brightly spoke up, as she entered med deck simply pleased to see that Harper was awake. "What are you doing?"

"Not much, literally," Harper answered with his voice still off key from the illness. His appearance suggested the virus was still very much in his system; his eyes were red rimmed and his skin still clammy.

Beka looked at him with some concern, seeing that he was sat cross legged on one of the med beds hunch forward slightly with a blanket wrapped around him. His arms rested on his thighs, and she could see he was finding it hard to move. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"All sleeped out, least for the moment, I guess the events of today still need to clear my system so I can properly rest," Harper answered, looking intently at the mug he held. "Trance had to help me to sit up, but it's nice to be upright again," he managed a smile.

"Are you going to drink that, it's getting cold," Beka observed the mug still in Harper's hand and guessed Trance must have made the drink for him before she had left him to rest.

"Trying," Harper looked slightly embarrassed now. "Every time I lift the mug up my arm starts to shake, can you believe that?" Harper asked, partly with a laugh but he appeared shamed by how little energy he had.

"Here, let me help," Beka immediately offered and steadied Harper's hand as he once again lifted the mug to his mouth, and this time was able to take a few gulps before putting it down again.

"Thanks," Harper offered.

"Your strength will return soon," Beka assured him.

"I know, people keep saying that," Harper answered looking exhausted, but also with frustration in his tone. "Do you know if my pride ever will?" he then added, and Beka sensed that he was only partly joking.

"Harper, you have nothing to be ashamed about, you did great," Beka stressed and put her hand on his arm for comfort.

"I let them just feed that crap into my port," Harper said with despair. "I was almost the reason for losing Andromeda, losing Rommie."

"Harper, don't torture yourself, not now that you need to work twice as hard to get that damn virus out of your system, you need to stay calm, relaxed and rested, remember?" Beka stated.

"I guess it was a good thing I was already infected with this stupid virus, it played its part today in helping me stop the other virus," Harper managed a smile, letting the virus take him over had prevented the mechanical virus taking over Rommie.

"That's more like it, think positively," Beka agreed with a smile. "Harper, trust me, you did nothing wrong, if anything allowing yourself to become as sick as you did normally causes me to hit you, but I'll let you off this time for playing the hero," Beka stated with a grin.

Harper looked at Beka for a moment before responding. "I kissed you, that was wrong," he offered then avoiding her gaze.

"You did nothing wrong," Beka repeated, and gently squeezed his arm.

"Seriously? No bash around the head, no fat lip for even that?" Harper checked unsure, looking surprised.

"I needed that, at that moment," Beka struggled to explain. "Besides it was just a kiss, and it wasn't even that, more a peck, you just needed to get my attention and you did."

"Right," Harper agreed quickly. "And it worked," he added with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah," Beka looked away, and then back at Harper. "Look, Seamus, we do need to talk."

"So the kiss was wrong?" Harper was confused suddenly.

"No, already established that, let's move on," Beka quickly spoke. "Trance is worried; she just came to see me."

"About me?" Harper checked, and saw Beka agree. "Beka, she's always worried about me; that's her charm and I did almost kill myself again today," he grinned.

Beka briefly smiled but it was quickly lost. "She told me that you keep pushing her away when she tries to examine you," Beka cautiously spoke.

"I don't like her prodding and poking, she knows that," Harper returned defensively.

"She told me you flinched earlier, when she helped you sit up," Beka ventured, and she saw the flash of fear in Harper's eyes as he avoided her gaze suddenly. "Her hand brushed your back, but you refuse to let her see why it caused the reaction it did, to the point you snapped at her, is this true?"

Harper's breathing had steadily increased. "I thought you wanted me to remain calm and relaxed, why are you cross examining me like this?" Harper stressed.

"I do want you to remain calm, but I also want you to remain well, and if nothing else Harper you need to change out of those clothes you've been wearing all day. You've been perspiring heavily since the illness took hold again, and you need to freshen up to ensure you remain as healthy as possible," Beka insisted. "Why wouldn't you change into the med deck gowns, or take a quick shower when Trance requested it?" Beka asked, but Harper was showing no sign of answering. "Harper you'll feel better for it, a nice hot shower and a change of clothes, something more comfortable like the med gowns, come on, I know it's no fun being sick so why make it worse?"

"Hate those med clothes, ever since the Magog," Harper simply said and it was clear he hoped the mention of Magog would kill the conversation, but Beka wasn't going to drop it.

"Trance offered to help you shower and you refused?" Beka lightly teased to check Harper's reaction, and when he didn't offer an answer, not even a lewd comment, and continued to avoid her gaze she knew something was wrong. "Harper, did Tyrone strike you again?" Beka finally reached her point.

Harper tried a couple of times to talk, but both times he stopped short of saying anything.

"Can I check?" Beka asked.

"I'm tired, I just want to sleep now," Harper stated quietly, and with annoyance but his distraction caused the mug to fall from his grasp and it shattered on the deck. "Damn!" Harper snapped with frustration.

"Ignore it, it's nothing," Beka quickly assured him, and then saw that Harper's attempts to return to a lying down position was causing him to sway dangerously, and she feared he'd be the next to topple from the med bed. "Let me help you," she stressed and moved around to take some of his weight so he could lie down again.

"Ow!" Harper suddenly exclaimed, and his body jerked from her hold on instinct, and Beka realised she had accidentally put a hand on his back for support.

"Harper, I'm sorry, I didn't mean," Beka spluttered before she realised that Harper gave no other reaction, as he settled down to lie on his side.

"It hurts," Harper then spoke quietly in pain, his voice partly muffled by the pillow that he now pressed his face into, as he moved to lie on his front bringing his hands up around his head, as if trying to hide his face from her.

"Can I?" Beka asked with caution, and Harper only gave the briefest of nods that she could just about see with his head covered by his hands now, and face down in the pillow. "Andromeda, privacy mode and lock the med deck out until further notice," Beka then ordered, and she heard two beeps to signal that Andromeda had complied. "We don't need an audience, right, Seamus?" she spoke, hoping it would encourage him to be more co-operative with her.

"Thanks," Harper simply responded into the pillow.

Beka felt nervous now, as Harper's back almost taunted her. He was lying down in front of her unmoving, face down with his back to her, and she had his permission to look but now she didn't want to, just like the first time this had happened. "Tell me what he did," Beka asked, almost as a delaying tactic.

"Humiliated me, again," Harper mumbled.

She hated hearing Harper putting himself down, and she frowned as her hand absently stroked the back of his head in comfort. "Tyrone will not get away with this, not this time."

Beka felt Harper flinch as she cautiously took hold of the hem of his shirt, and gently lifted it away from him. He cried out in pain when she tried to move it some more, and Beka instantly let the shirt go. "I can't do this," Beka panicked, and stepped back.

"It's the shirt," Harper moved slightly. "It's stuck."

"Aw man," Beka let out a sigh. "I need to call Trance, she'll know what to do."

"No," Harper stressed, and attempted to push himself up. "Help me," he asked after a moment and Beka was quickly by his side. "I'll take that shower now."

"But we can't remove your shirt," Beka responded.

"It has to come off somehow, so you can help me and at the same time I can take that shower you were telling me I had to take," Harper considered as Beka helped him to sit up.

"I'm not showering with you, Harper," Beka tried not to grin.

"I'll be fully clothed, at least at first," Harper offered, a trace of his boyish charm returning through the fever.

"You can barely stand, Seamus, I think you should try the bath," Beka considered. "Stay here, I'll start the water running," she offered.

Harper wearily watched Beka disappear towards the med deck bathroom. Inside he felt anger, humiliation and weakness. The fever was distracting and annoying him, his throat felt on fire, and his lungs seemed heavy. The headache was secondary but it was starting to bug him too, as he could only wait so Beka could then help him walk a distance he should be able to cover with no problem. To try and beat his own weakened body, Harper shifted slightly and ignored the nausea it caused him as he let his body drop from the bed, hoping his legs would support him. Clinging to the bed, Harper momentarily stumbled against the edge of the bed but remained upright, and focused on the entrance to the clean up area where Beka had disappeared to, in order to run his bath.

Breathing heavily, Harper gently pushed himself away from the bed and tried to find his balance. For a moment he stood unaided, and swayed until he felt confident to step forward. His legs felt like jello, and his feet like lead weights as he attempted to move, but once he got into the swing of it Harper found it easier to walk and he made up some ground before Beka emerged to find him half way across the room.

"Harper!" Beka spoke with shock seeing his actions, and it distracted Harper enough to suddenly lose his balance, and he stumbled to the deck. "What are you doing?"

"Walking," Harper snapped. "At least trying to, I was doing fine," he protested, as Beka helped him back up to his feet and he ignored the pain it caused him.

"You need to relax, no pressure, no stress," Beka reminded him. "Trying to walk and do anything strenuous is not allowed until you are better, ok?"

"Yes mom," Harper tiredly returned, and let Beka take his weight as she walked with him the rest of the way. "This is crap, you know that?"

"I know," Beka agreed. "Once this virus calms down again, things will return to normal, you just have to be patient."

Beka helped Harper to the edge of the bath, and she realised that the short distance they had covered had more or less taken all of Harper's energy reserves. It pained her to see him so weak, hearing the fever affecting his voice and lungs, and she knew that the gasps of pain Harper omitted were now due to his back, and she feared the damage she would eventually see there.

"Remove what you feel most comfortable removing," Beka simply said as she tested that the water was still a comfortable temperature.

"I'm fine like this," Harper answered, still wearing his combats and socks, plus the t-shirt.

Beka looked at him for a moment, she always liked it when Harper went shy on her and she smiled. "You don't need the socks," Beka encouraged and she moved to his feet and removed them, and he didn't stop her.

"Don't really need to keep the combats on either," Harper almost mumbled.

Beka decided to be head strong and agreed confidently, knowing Harper didn't need her sarcastic or teasing comments. With some effort Harper removed them, and Beka was relieved to find he was at least wearing underwear, she had momentarily panicked that he didn't.

"Ready?" Beka asked, seeing Harper now in only his shirt and boxers. Harper nodded his head, and she assisted him as he gingerly moved into the warm water and sat down. "Are you ok?" Beka asked, seeing him tense up slightly.

Harper nodded his head without word, and found that the fever didn't like the water it seemed, as Harper suffered a sudden coughing fit and then began to shiver. Beka leaned over and filled the tub with some more hot water to try and compensate. Eventually, Harper calmed down enough and his body stopped shaking, and his breathing became even again.

"It's good," Harper confirmed finally. "Stings," Harper then grimaced as he shifted in the water.

"I didn't add any soap," Beka frowned and waited until Harper settled. "Shall we give it a try?" she asked, seeing he was now immersed in the water and Harper only nodded his head tiredly.

Beka didn't want to do this, and she wished that Harper had let her call for Trance but he had wanted her to do this, and she had to remember that as he clung to her arm a few minutes later as she slowly removed the shirt. Never before had she purposely hurt Harper, but right now he was in a large amount of pain and slowly she began to see why as more and more of his back was revealed. She saw the red raw marks covering his lower back and already knew the upper part would be similar. The skin had been broken along most of the lines, and there were signs of infection most probably from contact with his shirt.

"Take a break," Beka encouraged, as she gently laid Harper back into the water and could only watch as he flinched. Unable to talk, instead his eyes were closed and his breathing heavy.

After a few moments Harper took a deep breath. "Sorry," he simply said.

"What for?" Beka asked.

"Making you do this," Harper offered weakly, his eyes still closed.

"It has to be done."

Harper took a few more breaths, and whilst still immersed in the water he lifted his shirt and before Beka could stop him he swiftly pulled it up followed by a loud scream of pain until he fell under the water.

"Harper!" Beka exclaimed with horror at what she'd just seen and her hands dived under the water to pull him up again.

When he emerged he was coughing and his face remained screwed up in pain.

"I'm getting, Trance," Beka decided but Harper gripped her hand, stopping her.

"It's cool," Harper stated, as he relaxed slightly.

"You're a maniac, you know that?" Beka stressed with frustration and relief.

Harper only had enough energy to offer a smirk, as he slowly began to drift off to sleep.

"Oh no you don't!" Beka was quick to react, come on get out of there before you go to sleep. Beka was already pulling Harper up, and he partly fell onto her as she dragged him from the tub. She reached out for the towels and quickly tried to wrap Harper up in them.

"Not the back!" Harper was awake enough to remind her not to wrap the towel around him, but already she felt him shivering again as the illness quickly reappeared.

Beka felt completely out of her element, as she hastily tried to dry what she could of Harper whilst he was leaning heavily against her for support. Finally she laid some of the towels on the floor and Harper practically fell to his knees and quickly curled up.

With a gasp, Beka finally took in the mess that was his back. "We have to let Trance look at those injuries," she stated flatly, they looked worse then before.

Harper didn't respond, and instead fussed over drying his hair lazily as he lay on the floor now. Beka didn't push, knowing Harper had heard her so instead she retrieved a set of clean med gowns.

"Put these on, they shouldn't aggravate your back," Beka instructed, putting the clothes next to Harper. "And make sure you completely dry yourself before you do," she added, and left the bathroom to find some space for herself.

She leant against the wall, and slowly found herself sliding down to the floor as he hands reached up to hold her head. Letting out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding, Beka couldn't believe that Tyrone had hurt Harper again in the manner he had. She wanted to go to the brig and see how he'd like what he'd done to Harper done to himself, but a small part of her considered that a man like that would probably enjoy it, she would never stoop to his level.

"Beka."

Beka snapped back to alert on hearing Harper's weak voice, and she quickly got to her feet and returned to the bathroom with haste.

"I'm here," Beka stated on returning, and found Harper had managed to put on the pants, remembering to remove his wet boxers but he was now sprawled on his front, resting on the towels, the top remained by his side.

"Tired," Harper whimpered in defeat.

Beka moved to his side, and she brushed his drying hair from his face seeing just a shadow of the man she knew. The virus had reduced him to nothing but a poor sap of a being, and Tyrone had crushed everything else.

"Would kill for a back massage," Harper then spoke, with an ironic tone.

"Sure, that would help right now," Beka played along sarcastically. "But maybe not right now," she considered taking in the sight of his mangled back one more time.

"Sorry I kissed you."

"Haven't we already discussed this?" Beka questioned softly.

"It's playing on my mind," Harper admitted.

"Just concentrate on getting better, I hate seeing you ill like this, you know that," Beka answered truthfully.

"For you, I'll do my best," Harper offered, a brief smile following.

"Are you ready to move to a more comfortable position?" Beka asked, seeing how tired he looked now, if it was possible to look more exhausted than exhausted.

"You mean by your side in your bed?" Harper queried, and then smirked. "Sorry, again," he quickly offered. "It's really playing on my mind, I shouldn't have done it, can't think straight, shutting up," he then babbled.

"Hey, if that's what's keeping you going," Beka smiled, knowing Harper was trying to keep both their spirits up, and it a way she found it comforting that he was finding humour in the situation.

Beka gently pulled him up to his feet, taking the top of his med clothes that he had so far failed to put on with her, as she slowly walked him back to the main medical area. With some effort, Harper made it back up onto the bed and quickly settled under the blankets.

"You sure you don't want to put this on?" Beka checked, holding the top. Harper shook his head in reply. "When Trance comes in she'll see your back, is that ok?"

"Yeah," Harper sleepily replied. "Thanks for your help," Harper offered.

Beka took comfort in his words, and without warning she moved forward and lightly kissed his lips. Harper snapped his eyes open in response and just stared at her.

"We're even again," Beka explained, before smiling and moving away, removing the lock on med deck and leaving Harper to just stare at her before sleep finally made his eyelids heavy, and he fell into a deep sleep. Beka stopped at the exit, where Trance was quickly by her side once the doors opened.

"He's all yours, cleaned, scrubbed up and ready for you to examine him now," Beka simply said, then with a secret smile and no further words she left Trance to simply look at Harper and see what seemed to be a matching smile on his face.

The end


End file.
